Radiant-001

Chapter One: The First Year

Resplendent Earth, 767

• Different cells of the Cult send the potential Illuminated they've rescued to the sanctuary in the Dehennen Mountains.
• 12th Day: The Solars enter the mountains, each of their own accord. They are told to seek the light in the mountains that can be seen from the highest places in the mountain range, and are given a blanket, rope and five days of food and water. They set out.
  • Dolorous Distich summons the ghost of an old mountaineer to help guide him through the treacherous passes.
  • Starfish draws on old stories he's read about prospectors in these mountains.
  • Both Sun's Red Hand and Kyrra rely on old tracks to show them safe routes through.
• 13th Day: After a frigid night, they continue their trek.
  • Dolorous Distich's prayer to the Unconquered Sun is answered, and a gleam of light even during the day carries him through, getting ever closer.
  • Starfish and Kyrra encounter one another along the way, and after some hesitation, continue on together. They are eventually met by one of the Vale Rangers, Rightful Envoy, who indicates that he was out following up a report regarding demons, which roam this area of the mountains. He takes them to a small hamlet in a secluded, sheltered vale, where they find hot food, cheery hearth and warm beds awaiting them.
• 14th Day: Sun's Red Hand and Dolorous Distich continue their trip.
  • Starfish wanders out into the hamlet and helps tend to simple repairs that they need help with. They look on in awe as he does so.
  • Towards evening, Dolorous Distich encounters a Vale Ranger, Winter's Arrow. She guides him to the hamlet as well, where he shares a meal with Starfish and Kyrra.
• 15th Day: Sun's Red Hand continues his trek.
  • While Starfish continues to tinker while they wait, Dolorous Distich inquires if there's anyone who needs the services of one of Sijan's Morticians. There are two families with recently-deceased family members, who are appreciative of his services.
  • Finally, toward evening, Red encounters a Vale Ranger, Swift Dawn, who takes him to the vale for rest and warm food.
• 16th Day: Winter's Arrow greets them in the morning and takes them through the Vale. It is a beautiful place, well-sheltered from the worst of winter storms, with plenty of hot springs.
  • They are greeted with awe and reverence by adults of the villages they pass through, and by excitement from the children.
  • Arrow explains to them that these are all people of the Cult of the Illuminated - few of them were actually born here. Most of them came here from elsewhere, when membership in the Cult became too dangerous, and they had no other place to go.
  • Halfway through the Vale, they can see a massive gold and white marble edifice on a sheer cliff that overlooks the end of the Vale. This is the Sequestered Tabernacle.
  • As they approach, they can see a zig-zagging staircase cut into the side of the cliff. At the bottom, two figures await them: a scruffy blonde young man and a seven-foot tall man made of granite.
  • They introduce themselves as Venerable Silk, the Seneschal of the Secluded Tabernacle and Defiant Eminence, the God of the Dehennen Mountains. They exchange pleasantries, and begin the staircase climb.
  • As they climb, Silk tells them of the place of the Solar Exalted in the Cult of the Illuminated - not all Solars are considered Illuminated, but those who might be are desperately needed as heroes.
  • The training of the Cult is hard, and he would not blame them if they left - which they are free to do at any time. But if they stay, they have much to offer them.
  • Halfway up, a monk greets them with a platter of spicy, frothy milk drinks in earthenware mugs.
  • At the top of the stairs, they are greeted my monks in black, brown, red and blue robes, who all bow.
  • Silk then formally asks them if they will accept the training and entry into the Temple, and they accept. They do so, and are stripped and given simple black wraps and then ushered into the Temple.
  • They are taken to a bathing chamber, scrubbed with cold water and lye soap, and then given some time in a hot bath, drawn up from springs beneath the Tabernacle, along with wine and a platter of fruit and cheese.
  • Afterwards, they are dressed in black robes with gold trim, and shown the Gardens. The symbolism of the manse is explained to them, and they are told that it is forbidden for them to venture to the second or third floors.
• 17th Day: The next day, they are awakened by a blue-robed man named Sorrowful Haman and brought to prayers in the center of the Gardens. A sort of martial arts training begins immediately. Afterwards, they have a breakfast of rice and water, to which Starfish in particular objects, claiming his patron god Taruzake requires of him the ingestion of wine. It is, however, arranged that his tayra familiar will be brought fruit. Likewise, the hounds of the Icewalker Kyrra are permitted free rein on the wild cliff areas outside for hunting.
  • They then meet a blue-robed woman named Pious Adia, who begins to teach them the Illuminated Doctrine.
  • At lunch, they are brought to Venerable Silk in the center of the Gardens, who tells them a bit more about the Cult and its expectations. He also identifies himself as a Sidereal Exalt, and discusses the Solar Castes.
  • Afterwards, they meet Sunrise River, a brown-robed priest who gives them a work detail cleaning the bath chambers.
  • Almost an hour later, the doors burst open and Sorrowful Haman and Venerable Silk enter, angered to find them doing such menial work.
  • That evening, they reconvene in the Gardens for evening services, where the monks present meditate or pray as they are moved. Bowls of water move among those present; Starfish and Kyrra sense that they are tainted or drugged somehow (Starfish recognizing it as Bright Morning). By the time they realize this, Red Hand and Dolorous Distich have already consumed it.
  • The Bright Morning kicks in, and the two Exalts can see the Essence flows in the manse and in one another, and are consumed by the visions for three hours or so.
  • Starfish leaves the gathering, and goes hunting a tavern or inn from which to get some wine. Sadly, he finds none.

Ascending Earth

• For the next month, the Solars continue that pattern: wake in the morning to prayers, followed by training, mid-day meditations with Silk, work in the afternoon and prayers in the evening.
• 16th: After prayers, Venerable Silk tells them to journey outside, where they meet one of the Masters of the Cult, Ayesha Ura and her boon companion, a garda-bird named Everpresent Dawn.
  • She arrives in a flying vessel, much to the excitement of Starfish.
  • Ura creates a grand palace with sorcery, and invites them within. She introduces herself as a Chosen of Journeys.
  • She speaks to them of the structure of the Cult, and what she expects of them. Afterwards, she offers them the chance to leave, and then introduces them to Everpresent Dawn.
  • They elect to remain, and accept her offer to be recognized as Illuminated with the temple.
  • They return at evening prayers, and reveal themselves as Illuminated by unveiling their auras to the monks on Bright Morning.
  • Sunrise River stops them as they leave, begging for their forgiveness. Dolorous Distich speaks a prayer using part of the Illuminated Sutras, and the result causes spiraling Old Realm sigils to burn themselves into his flesh.
    • The symbols are later revealed to be a prayer of contrition.

Training Montage

• After accepting the status of Illuminated, the Solars training began in earnest, starting in the Dojo with Sorrowful Haman. Venerable Silk and others train the new Illuminated in many different fields, but in particular Martial Arts is given a focus.
  
• In the Dojo, Sorrowful Haman matches the Solars up against one another. Red is paired off against Distich, and Kyrra is paired off against Starfish. What initially starts out as two separate individual bouts quickly becomes a 2 on 2 melee. Starfish decides that the best course of action is to subdue his opponent by sitting on her, rendering her immobile and is very successful. Kyrra is ill-amused. Red and Distich trade blows, slowly amping up the intensity. Red tries to get Kyrra out from under Starfish, and with the distraction is successful. Distich unleashes a barrage of spinning kicks, uppercuts, and hadokens, completely leveling the battlefield, leaving behind only the smoldering cinders of savage destruction. Sorrowful Haman hands Distich a gleaming trophy full of Steak-umms, letting him know he did a great jeorb.
• In additional to martial arts, they are taught such things as occult knowledge, how to seduce and persuade, and many other things a would-be Prince of the Earth should know.
  
• After a good amount of training, Venerable Silk and Sorrowful Haman take the Solars to the nearby Poison Vale, a Wood Desmene controlled by Unwholesome Blossom, a local goddess of poison and flowers, and her priestesses. It is soon revealed that the Solars are here to be pitted against the Priestesses of the Poison Vale, a group of women predominantly composed of mortals with enlightened essence, save for one Wood Aspected Dragon-Blooded; All of them practitioners of the Ill Lily Martial Arts style. The bout begins simply enough. Starfish, taking what he learned from his practice bout, immediately lunges forward to grapple with the ladies. Kyrra explodes in a flurry of attacks, striking many different priestesses, some of them erupting with dramatic golden light as the poison essence of her Black Widow Razors permeates their bloodstreams. Distich clinches another priestess, setting up Red for the one-two punch. Unbeknownst to the planning process, Red lets loose a couple of arrows from his short bow, dropping the priestess to the ground instantly and causing the Wood Aspected Dragon-Blooded to join in the fight sooner than expected, taking Red's manhood for a spiky, viney joyride of pain. Eventually all of the priestesses are defeated, leaving the Solars victorious. There is a brief exchange between the leadership of the Cult of the Illuminated and Unwholesome Blossom before heading back to The Sequestered Tabernacle for more training.